Same. It was a hard choice to narrow it down to two.
Talib, Talienda and Rissi, please say hi Sekla Torgut and Yenet Axirion/The Shining Falcon, our new recruits. Sekla and Yenet, welcome to the group!
Right now the game is on downtime mode as everyone levelled up, got some new equipment and decided what to do with about a week of time after they escaped the haunted courthouse. Sekla and Yenet, do you need any extra time to get things in order, ask questions, etc?
Your introduction should be easy enough — you’ll have obtained Talienda’s new address through Talib and will
Your entry point will be Talib, for whom the fire at The Lucky Harpy is part of a bigger chain of events.
My initial idea was that Yenet is one of the contacts Talib has activated to find out more about Malgrim Hurke’s activities (Malgrim was the hobgoblin leader of the Grindle Street Shades gang, known torturer and murderer and generally unpleasant person. His death at the courthouse is what set off the gang war). If that’s the route we take, how did Yenet manage to convince Talib — a rather strict man who is already taking care of two civilians — to have you accompanying him?
Feel completely free to suggest other ways of joining in.
Thank you for the invite! I'm genuinely excited to dive in, and look forward to rping with you all.
@DM, I think I'm pretty much ready to go. I was thinking about swapping one of Sekla's traits to reflect her time in the Precipice Quarter, and so might trade out the Principled trait for Secret Knowledge. This would reflect how she's come to know the district from the unique pov of a mercenary that's been hired to protect all manner of interesting people.
Question: does Sekla begin the game with any knowledge of Malgrim and the Grindle Street Shades gang, or any other aspect of the game that's already come to light? I could see Malgrim having tried to recruit her when she first arrived, and only giving up when she finally cut down one of his men or bloodied a number of them.
Hi everyone, thank you for the opportunity to join you. Really happy to be selected for this game, I'm hoping we'll provide a good fit for the campaign.
I've dotted into the gameplay. Omelas, would you like me to create a separate alias for the social and vigilante identities? Stat-wise the differences are minimal, but it might provide a more visual cue when I'm posting.
I have to do some housekeeping on my profile; buying the rest of my gear should take a bit of time. It's actually my least favourite part of creating a higher-level character. I'll have some time Tuesday evening to get that done.
Final point for now: I'm not 100% sold on the avatar choice yet. I'll revisit it tomorrow. He has the easy-going peaceful look that I was after, but is just a bit too much of a Morgan Freeman lookalike for my taste.
General knowledge: both Sekla and Yenet have heard some things about what happened at the courthouse, all of it wild speculation built on top of two main facts: “some people died there last week” and “it’s not as creepy as it used to be.” It’s unlikely you ever heard anything about Alastir and Diago, since they were operated in completely different levels of society and did not care much about making themselves known to the riffraff.
You also know all the rumours I listed on the recruitment post (though not all of them necessarily are reliable).
Nothing else springs to mind at the moment, but feel free to ask as it comes up.
One last thing: it wuold be helpful if you put up some stats on your profiles class/gender/race. Most are using have some variation of this: https://pastebin.com/raw/v39rPhFN (feel free to alter/simplify it to suit your needs, but make sure that at least the first line and your speed are there).
As for more specific questions:
From what you wrote, I take it you’re talking about kn(local)? If so, sounds reasonable enough to replace the Norgorber requirement.
About Malgrim: anyone with a minimum knowledge of Absalom’s crime scene has at least heard about the Grindle Street Shades. I am perfectly fine with you having bad blood with Malgrim’s gang =)
Alias: as you prefer. I agree that having two profiles might be a bit more thematic and help hammer in the fact that until (if ever) you reveal your identity, the group will be interacting with two separate persons as far as they’re concerned. On the other hand, it is a bit of a bother to keep two aliases updated, so I’m not going to require you to do it. An idea: change the avatar whenever you switch identities? It’s not exactly quick with Paizo’s interface, but could save some time?
Talib: sounds reasonable to me. He might still take you somewhat grudgingly at first, but that’s all we need.
Great. I'll make those minor changes, then, and get up an intro post showing Sekla receiving her new contract.
This reminds me, I still need to grab gear. Eek!
Welcome! I look forward to fighting some crime with y'all.
Silly me. I forgot to say hello to our new peeps.
Hiya! It's nice to meet ya, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this goes. It should be fun!
:)
I just dropped my intro post. Feel free to bring Sekla on when the time is right - the post can take place whenever the contract is extended.
Talib, how do you imagine Sekla came to your attention? If they've interacted at all, I'm thinking she'd have a high opinion of him, given her respect for the law and orderly people. I'm open to whatever you think works best, back story wise.
Talib works at the fringes of the fringes in the church's hierarchy, being freewheeling even for an inquisitor. Since he can't always depend on the priesthood for resources, he maintains a policy of accepting favours in lieu of money for his services. For example, he might look into the kidnapping of a rich merchant's son, knowing that said merchant has access to other influential people, or retainers with specialised know-how. This way, he builds himself a network of contacts, who can be drawn upon in a variety of tasks. The same applies to less prosperous clientele, as well, for street-level contacts.
In this context, Talib might have done such a favour for Sekla directly (maybe looking into who rigged the match where her partner died?), or for a fixer or some other intermediary. It's good to have a list of reliable—as in principled and unbribable—mercenaries for muscle and witness protection, since the district guards can't always be trusted. As for how she came to his attention, he might have seen her fight in the Irorium (likely having been dragged there by his younger brothers), or just heard of her through the grapevine. Being a hobgoblin makes her stand out, but Talib would be more interested in her professionalism than the intimidation factor.
Hi guys! Looking forward to the next chapter!!!
Ok, so, now that I have a better idea of how the new group looks like and finished preparing, here’s a tentative outline of the next few days as we ease back into regular gameplay.
Today some of you got a few questions from me on your inboxes. Mostly clarifying some things on your backgrounds I will be drawing on. Also, please make sure you have finished all shopping and tweaks.
Tomorrow I will resolve Talib’s investigation, which will lead to him meeting Yenet. At the same time, Talienda and Rissi will hear a knock on their door which is likely to bring the wholesomeness of the scene down a couple of notches.
I’m not a big fan of splitting the party on PbP, but I can’t see an organic way of getting everyone in the same room straight away. If it becomes unbearable I will speed things up so you get the info you need from each scene and are quickly reunited. I will use spoilers to make clear what’s happening where, but you don’t have to.
Last thing: I am going to be away from the computer on friday and saturday. I will still post, but might be a bit terser than usual.
Sounds good. I've done my shopping, and I've shifted just a few skill points around. He should be done now. Also, I've created the second profile for the Shining Falcon. The stats in the profile line are different as well, because he's wearing less gear in social identity.
I'll create a starting post in social identity tomorrow, to give you all an impression of what kind of character Yenet is. However, I'm going to assume that all of the interaction you'll have with him at first is in his vigilante identity. I'll wait with that in-character post until Omelas sets the scene with Talib.
Cool.
I had an idea about how to explain a young noblewoman knows how to skulk about and disguise herself, and I was wondering what Rissi would think if she caught Talienda sneaking out at night to try and find out more about what her father was actually up to.
EDIT: And equipment is done! :)
EDIT 2: And now Talienda has a non-zero perception check after shuffling some skills around. Can't believe I missed that one.
Considering that Rissi also has a level in rogue now, I suppose she could even have joined you. This would have happened in this week of downtime, right?
Yep! Was just posting about that.... I think buying thieve's tools might tip Talienda off to Rissi's thinking.
Tal is actually going for AT? Hope that works out! I've never had a game last long enough to reach it! Not for Rissi though. I wanted the one level of Rogue 'cause I felt it fit her character. She'll focus back on Bard after.
At the same time, Talienda and Rissi will hear a knock on their door which is likely to bring the wholesomeness of the scene down a couple of notches.
DM, should I have Sekla knock, or are you planning a post?
@Sekla: planning a post in which I start off both Yenet+Talib and Talienda+Rissi+Sekla, will be up in a couple of hours.
Thumbs up emoji.
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There we go. Let the games begin (again).
Woo!
And I'm all for Rissi joining in and teaching Talienda more about the underbelly of society that she's not even known of until recently. One of those escapades would have been a visit to Halgrak's wife and children to tell them what happened and to give the widow enough money to pay her debts and live comfortably afterwards.
@Rissi: Apologies, Sekla held out the contract for her to take? Speaking of, I don't know ooc what such a contract might look like or how it might identify Sekla, but perhaps we could hand wave that part a little?
"The hobgoblin extends the contract to the ratkin."
Sorry, I read the post too fast and skipped that line. Ignore my post please....
No worries! Just wanted to be sure :)
I tried flagging the first post as a double. It worked last time it happened to me =)
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I love Talienda's charm. It's so sincere and disarming.
Still working on Sekla's voice/tone. She's growing a little coarser as I write her, but hasn't quite clicked into place just yet.
I know that feeling. You have an idea going into character creation, but in actual play things might just turn out a bit different.
I love Talienda's charm. It's so sincere and disarming.
Just as planned. She's a sweet girl. Shame her father was a bastard. :P
And I hear ya on having an idea in your head and the way things play out is different. I've had a couple of characters in a discord game turn out like that. The first just wasn't a good fit for the group, the second started off as a comically literal wizard, and slowly morphed into an angsty ball of depression as I played him and got to the point where I didn't want to play him and then some things happened that lead to me going, "Oh yeah, he ain't sticking around after this."
And I'm back.
And I definitely feel the pain/joy of having a character turn out differently than what you had in your mind. It will be interesting to see how Sekla shapes up.
Oh, one thing, Sekla and yenet: since not everyone in the group can post during weekends I purposefully slow down the action. You are very welcome to continue posting now and in the future, but just in case you wonder why Sekla and Talienda might spend two days having tea and biscuits.
@DM: Sounds good.
Also, I'm not expecting any payment or remuneration for Sekla's services. Just IC fluff. Though I am looking forward to playing the part of the gruff bodyguard!
Oh I think you'll have plenty of opportunity for that. Talienda is nothing if not atypical of most nobles.
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"Step away from the windows," says Sekla immediately, tone turning terse. If Talienda fails to comply quickly, she'll take hold of the young human by the arm and pull her firmly behind the safety of a wall.
I half-expected Sekla would just tackle Talienda to the floor. :D
Sekla thought of it, but that'd put them both prone. And a shot would have already come if it was a sniper intention to attack. Best to stay frosty and on their toes ;)
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No! Of all the spells for my bodyguard to be hit with in her intro scene...
And with her new client suddenly disappearing seconds after signing the contract…sorry!
Yeah, not the best first impression. At least it plays well into the whole "hobgoblins distrust magic" thing...
Yep, and if nothing else, Talienda is going to be giving you a big hug when this is all over. :)
Wow! That was a lot of fast posting!
Since I'm new to the group, I thought I'd check: what is the style of play here? Everyone posting in turn (traditional) or more fluid, with folks posting out of order now and then to keep things moving? No preference, just trying to figure out expectations :)
So far we have been rather liberal in that sense and it seems to work fine (in case anyone does not agree, I'm happy to discuss things either here or privately). I think that as long as no one feels neglected and people post in a generous manner (leaving hooks, actively including others, etc), it shouldn’t be a problem.
Just a heads up. Over the past few days I have found out that my grandparents on my dad's side both have COVID-19, my grandmother on that side is also in the hospital with a strep infection on top of this, and my grandfather on that side has been undergoing chemo treatments for cancer. Both are 76-77 years old, so already in the high-risk category before the rest of it. Just keep them in your thoughts and prayers.
Damn, that's tough. I really hope it turns out ok, hang in there and stay strong. We'll be here whenever you want to take your mind off things, but obviously don't fret about posting and etc if things get too busy.
I'm really sorry to hear that, Tali. Will hope for the absolute best.
Damn, that's awful. I hope everything turns out well.
Wow! My family has been lucky so far. No known exposures. I'll gladly add you and your family to prayers! Hope all turns out well!
Thanks guys. I hope things turn out well too, obviously. I've been trying not to think about it because I have a tendency to dwell on things.
I'm really sorry to hear that, Talienda. Let's hope for the best, and perhaps we can provide some distraction from your thoughts.
Updating all my games since I've gotten more good news.
- Still no symptoms from my grandfather. It looks like he'll be alright.
- My grandmother is being weaned off the ventilator. The doctors are hoping that will happen soon.
- All in all everything's looking up, except...
- My grandfather, who's notorious for his inability to cook is going to try cooking himself something. My sister is going to make sure the house is still standing afterwards.